The Heavy
are the music industry’s worst kept secret. They make blazing, urgent,
infectious rock-soul with a strong dose of hip-hop. You’ve heard their songs in
a lot of different places, and it’s likely that you loved them.

Forming
in the fertile swamps of England’s West Country in the mid-naughties, around
the axis of Dan Taylor (guitarist and songwriter) and Kelvin Swaby (vocalist
and songwriter,) the Heavy immediately astounded. Jaw dropping, freshly minted
riffs, swinging hip-hop drums, funk-ridden bass and Swaby’s startling,
Mayfield-esque vocals meant early singles ‘That Kind of Man’ and ‘Colleen’ blew
minds and won hearts. The debut album they were taken from – ‘Great Vengeance
and Furious Fire’ – became an instant connoisseurs’ classic.

It was
their sophomore album, though, that saw them blasting into homes across the
globe. ‘The House that Dirt Built’ was everything a second album should be: a
deeper, richer progression from the band’s early work. It also yielded the
mighty ‘How You Like Me Now?’ The single was licensed for a major commercial in
the 3rd Quarter of the Superbowl (the biggest ad slot in the world)
and quite simply went stratospheric.

A heady
mix of impassioned, incandescent vocal, gargantuan riff and boom-bap drums, it
also happened to conjure up a triumph-in-adversity sentiment that struck a
chord across the globe. The song went on to become the first for which David
Letterman ever requested an encore, when The Heavy played the “Late Show,” and
appeared everywhere from “Entourage,” Academy Award-nominated film The Fighter,
and Mark Wahlberg’s hit comedy ‘Ted.’

“It
became such a big tune, that people asked, ‘How are you going to top that?’.”
Swaby says.

The
answer was 2012’s ‘The Glorious Dead,’ the band’s third album. Searching for
inspiration, The Heavy – which in addition to Taylor and Swaby includes Spencer
Page (bass) and Chris Ellul (drums) – travelled from their Bath, England
hometown to Columbus, Georgia. There, they hooked up with local gospel singers
and musicians for some Southern Gothic sublimity.

The final
magic ingredient in the mix was Gabriel “Bosco Mann” Roth of Sharon Jones &
the Dap-Kings, who added string and horn parts to four songs.

Even
deeper, a touch darker, and with shades of Southern Gothic infesting the swampy
rock n’ soul of previous records, the album was another giant step forward,
Frankensteining swampy voodoo and b-movie zombies with garage rock and
Gospel-soaked soul.

Lead
single ‘What Makes a Good Man?’ showed that The Heavy were able to write
brilliant singles time after time, with synchs snowing in once again, and
American radio coming on board. The band toured the world exhaustively, wowing
audiences with their transcendental live performances.

“It was
over the top, in a good way,” adds Heavy frontman Kelvin Swaby. “We went pretty
cinematic, setting out to score a film that hasn’t been written.”

“It’s
good to have a bit of light and shade,” Taylor adds.

Since then,
The Heavy has gone on to achieve storming success in Japan, playing Fuji Rock,
chalking up a #1 alternative album on iTunes Japan, scoring a major Pepsi synch
and playing Japan’s biggest breakfast TV show, ‘Sukkiri.’

Their
music was used in the stunning Guiness Sapeurs ad, they played Glastonbury,
sold out Shepherd’s Bush Empire and re-recorded How You Like Me Now? with none
other than 50 Cent, to launch ESPN’s coverage of the NFL Draft Week.

To top it
all, How You Like Me Now? reached Gold status in the United States – a stunning
achievement for an English, independent artist. How to top all that, you might
ask? Well, there’s a new album on the way, and The Heavy just happen to have a
habit of exceeding themselves…

The Heavy
are the music industry’s worst kept secret. They make blazing, urgent,
infectious rock-soul with a strong dose of hip-hop. You’ve heard their songs in
a lot of different places, and it’s likely that you loved them.

Forming
in the fertile swamps of England’s West Country in the mid-naughties, around
the axis of Dan Taylor (guitarist and songwriter) and Kelvin Swaby (vocalist
and songwriter,) the Heavy immediately astounded. Jaw dropping, freshly minted
riffs, swinging hip-hop drums, funk-ridden bass and Swaby’s startling,
Mayfield-esque vocals meant early singles ‘That Kind of Man’ and ‘Colleen’ blew
minds and won hearts. The debut album they were taken from – ‘Great Vengeance
and Furious Fire’ – became an instant connoisseurs’ classic.

It was
their sophomore album, though, that saw them blasting into homes across the
globe. ‘The House that Dirt Built’ was everything a second album should be: a
deeper, richer progression from the band’s early work. It also yielded the
mighty ‘How You Like Me Now?’ The single was licensed for a major commercial in
the 3rd Quarter of the Superbowl (the biggest ad slot in the world)
and quite simply went stratospheric.

A heady
mix of impassioned, incandescent vocal, gargantuan riff and boom-bap drums, it
also happened to conjure up a triumph-in-adversity sentiment that struck a
chord across the globe. The song went on to become the first for which David
Letterman ever requested an encore, when The Heavy played the “Late Show,” and
appeared everywhere from “Entourage,” Academy Award-nominated film The Fighter,
and Mark Wahlberg’s hit comedy ‘Ted.’

“It
became such a big tune, that people asked, ‘How are you going to top that?’.”
Swaby says.

The
answer was 2012’s ‘The Glorious Dead,’ the band’s third album. Searching for
inspiration, The Heavy – which in addition to Taylor and Swaby includes Spencer
Page (bass) and Chris Ellul (drums) – travelled from their Bath, England
hometown to Columbus, Georgia. There, they hooked up with local gospel singers
and musicians for some Southern Gothic sublimity.

The final
magic ingredient in the mix was Gabriel “Bosco Mann” Roth of Sharon Jones &
the Dap-Kings, who added string and horn parts to four songs.

Even
deeper, a touch darker, and with shades of Southern Gothic infesting the swampy
rock n’ soul of previous records, the album was another giant step forward,
Frankensteining swampy voodoo and b-movie zombies with garage rock and
Gospel-soaked soul.

Lead
single ‘What Makes a Good Man?’ showed that The Heavy were able to write
brilliant singles time after time, with synchs snowing in once again, and
American radio coming on board. The band toured the world exhaustively, wowing
audiences with their transcendental live performances.

“It was
over the top, in a good way,” adds Heavy frontman Kelvin Swaby. “We went pretty
cinematic, setting out to score a film that hasn’t been written.”

“It’s
good to have a bit of light and shade,” Taylor adds.

Since then,
The Heavy has gone on to achieve storming success in Japan, playing Fuji Rock,
chalking up a #1 alternative album on iTunes Japan, scoring a major Pepsi synch
and playing Japan’s biggest breakfast TV show, ‘Sukkiri.’

Their
music was used in the stunning Guiness Sapeurs ad, they played Glastonbury,
sold out Shepherd’s Bush Empire and re-recorded How You Like Me Now? with none
other than 50 Cent, to launch ESPN’s coverage of the NFL Draft Week.

To top it
all, How You Like Me Now? reached Gold status in the United States – a stunning
achievement for an English, independent artist. How to top all that, you might
ask? Well, there’s a new album on the way, and The Heavy just happen to have a
habit of exceeding themselves…

[counter_player] =>
[counter_biog] => “What the hell were we thinking?,” exclaims Dan Taylor, guitarist for U.K. indie soul-rock titans The Heavy, of the band’s audacious album, The Glorious Dead. “We wanted to make a bold statement – it’s not shy, but a beast unto itself." "It’s over the top, but in a good way," adds charismatic Heavy frontman Kelvin Swaby. "With this record, we went pretty cinematic: we basically set out to score a film that hasn’t been written."
Indeed, The Glorious Dead proves singular: Frankensteining everything from swampy voodoo and b-movie zombies with garage-rock guitars and Gospel-soaked soul, it becomes a whole other creature feature unlike anything else you’ll hear this year. The Glorious Dead isn’t just The Heavy’s third full-length: it’s also the group’s most ambitious effort, traveling sonically from the group’s South England home to America’s deep South, and beyond. It’s also building off momentum from The Heavy’s greatest success, the international smash single “How You Like Me Now?,” off the band’s acclaimed previous album, 2009’s The House That Dirt Built. An infectious anthem of hard-rocking maximum R&B, “How You Like Me Now?” exploded upon release: it became the first song David Letterman’s ever requested an encore for when The Heavy played it on his “Late Show,” and has appeared everywhere from “Entourage” episodes, Academy Award-nominated film The Fighter, and the trailer for the new Mark Wahlberg comedy Ted. “How You Like Me Now?” continues to enthrall: on the recent climax of the 2012 season of NBC’s hit show “The Voice,” Adam Levine’s team contestant Tony Lucca performed the song to massive acclaim. “That was surreal,” says Taylor. “It’s taken on legs of its own. I can’t complain, but I wouldn’t want to be known for one song – it’s not our peak.” “It’s such a big tune, people ask, ‘How are you going to top that?’,” Swaby adds. “But we’re not going to lie down and play dead.”
As such, The Glorious Dead rockets out of the grave with supernatural force. Alternately haunting and relentless, album opener “Can’t Play Dead” thunders as if Jack White remixed “Ghost Town” by The Specials. It’s followed by “Curse Me Good,” which provides a jarring contrast with its sweet whistled hook, George Harrison-meets-T.Rex acoustic strum, and a heartbreaking soul vocal from Swaby. “It’s good to have a bit of light and shade amid the onslaught of heavy guitars,” Taylor explains. “I find we’re always trying to recreate the diversity of, say, The White Album, but with beats.” Likewise, “Big Bad Wolf” combines primal howling à la Screamin’ Jay Hawkins, funkdafied breakbeats, and eerie electronics that recall Luniz’ stoned rap classic “I Got 5 On It.” “Think vintage, but keep it contemporary – that’s our approach,” Swaby explains. “It’s integral to make everything sound like samples from our record collection, but with a modern edge. We’re not afraid to use technology, and everything needs to have that tight, heavyweight bottom end.”
Epitomizing this all-inclusive strategy is The Glorious Dead’s centerpiece breakthrough track, “What Makes A Good Man?” Defiant yet uplifting, “What Makes A Good Man?” contrasts Swaby’s gritty soul searching with girl-group call-and-response vocals and soaring, epic strings. Its creation provided the spark that would prove crucial to the album’s inception. Looking to soak up some Southern Gothic inspiration, The Heavy traveled far from their hometown near Bath, England all the way to Columbus, Georgia on the advice of their U.S. tour-bus driver, Sam Phillips. There, Phillips hooked the group up with a number of church-trained singers and players: they would take Swaby and Taylor’s song ideas to another realm, like singer/keyboardist Lloyd Buchanan’s intense contribution to “…Good Man?” “We had the beat and the chorus for ‘Good Man,’ and when Lloyd started jamming on the B-3 and singing on it, I was like, ‘This is going to be insane,’” Swaby says. “The Gospel singers started doing the chorus they already knew they song – they made it sound like the Supremes or Ronettes. It was an incredible feeling: after that, we were on our merry way.” Taking the material to yet another level was the contribution of Gabriel “Bosco Mann” Roth, Daptone Records co-founder and bandleader of Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings, with whom The Heavy had toured extensively. Roth ended up scoring innovative string and horn parts to four of The Glorious Dead’s ten songs. “It doesn’t sound like what Gabriel does with the Dap-Kings,” Taylor says. “He got into the mindset to do something different.” “He’s such a talented entity,” Swaby continues. “I couldn’t believe what was coming out of the speakers. It was so fitting, with this vintage sound, and amazing beauty. It reminded me of these black-and-white films I used to watch as a kid.”
Film loomed as large an influence on The Glorious Dead as music. As key inspirations, Taylor cites the tweaked Americana of Jim Jarmusch’s Down By Law and the voodoo vibes of the James Bond classic Live and Let Die alongside ‘60s Mod rave-ups and the atmospheric Brit multiculturalism of Fun Boy Three and The Specials; Swaby, meanwhile, explored low-budget horror flicks alongside the controlled screaming of garage-rockers The Sonics, Tom Waits’ elastic growl, and soul giants Al Green and Otis Redding. Starting in January 2011, Taylor, Swaby, and bandmates Spencer Page (bass) and Chris Ellul (drums) began combining these ingredients into their own idiosyncratic blend – a process launched by The Heavy building their own studio and choosing to produce The Glorious Dead themselves. To mix the results, the band first worked with longtime associate Jim Abbiss (Adele, Arctic Monkeys) at Peter Gabriel’s famed Real World complex, then finished up with Paul Corkett (The Cure, Nick Cave, Björk). “Self-producing was all about being self-sufficient in realizing the vision we had,” Taylor says. “Your third record is judged as to whether you’re there to stay, or slide off the face of the earth. We want to stick around, so we took our balls out and went for it.” “I love what we’ve done,” adds Swaby. “We got our deadpan heartbreak down. This record suggests how we continue to walk among the dead – now just in a few more places, and with more of a swagger.”
The Glorious Dead spawned the mighty lead single 'What Makes a Good Man?' a funk-ridden, soul-wrenching study of a deep spiritual question. What Makes A Good Man? has been featured in trailers for HBO, Lawless, Borderlands 2 and Elementary, and the band gave TV performances on The Late Show with David Letterman, Last Call With Carson Daly and The Late Late Show With Craig Ferguson.
Since the dawn of 'The Glorious Dead,' The Heavy have done anything other than rest on their laurels. 2013 has seen them reprise their smash hit 'How You Like Me Now?' for ESPN's Draft Week. The song was reworked to feature a guest verse from none other than 50 Cent, who happily enveloped himself in The Heavy's swamp-funk, and even performed in a brand new video. Since then, the song has gone on to reach Gold status in the USA, a stunning success from a British band on a label as independent as they are.
The Heavy came back to the US to perform at Spike TV's Guys Choice Awards as the house band in June 2013. Touring in 2013 has so far been a SOLD OUT UK Tour, an EU Tour in May, plus USA and Canadian dates in June and August, with another EU/UK Tour booked for the end of the year. Festival highlights this summer include Ottawa Jazz Festival, Rock-A-Field in Luxembourg, Hove in Norway, T In The Park in Scotland, Glastonbury and WOMAD in England, Osheaga in Montreal, Outside Lands in San Francisco and Afropunk in New York.
To date, this true original of a band have sold 750,000 singles and over 150,000 albums. Long live The Heavy.
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North Carolina-born artist Travis Stewart known as Machinedrum has produced and composed over a dozen albums under various aliases since his first independent release in 1999. Covering an astonishing variety of styles with ease, through solo Machinedrum work and with collaborative projects Sepalcure, JETS, Dream Continuum, or other mutations, Stewart has established himself as electronic music's true Renaissance man.

His debut as Machinedrum Now You Know, was released in 2001 on pioneering Miami-based Merck Records and gained worldwide attention and praise from musicians, fans and critics. Having a strong background in both acoustic and electronic instrumentation, he was quickly able to navigate those various elements on his early releases from field recording and vintage synth laden Urban Biology to his seminal production and mixing of This Charming Mixtape with MC Theophilus London and his critically acclaimed 2009 album Want To 1 2?
2010's Many Faces EP ushered the next phase of Machinedrum's career and a fruitful relationship with Glasgow-based label LuckyMe. Sepalcure, a duo launched with Praveen Sharma shortly after, became one of the most intriguing names in the bass music scene and a series of releases on bubbling imprint Hotflush has given the duo NYC ambassadorship of this UK-based genre.

Relocating to Berlin for a few years, Machinedrum maintained a steady flow of releases including the Alarmaa and SXLND EPs with LuckyMe and the critically-acclaimed Room(s) LP on Planet Mu Records, a fresh new exploration of juke, jungle, and drum&bass that garnered high praise across the music world.

The dance floor blitzkrieg JETS, his latest project with longtime collaborator Jimmy Edgar has kept him ahead of the curve once again, serving as yet another showcase for his musical evolution.

His biggest and boldest release came last year in the form of the full-length LP Vapor City on famed label Ninja Tune, a conceptual universe which included an interactive website, digital citizenship program for fans, and an art exhibit in NYC that launched with the album. With subsequent EPs, exclusive remixes from a series of heavyweights, and a critically-acclaimed world tour, Vapor City carried on his rich exploration of multimedia arts and music.

Delivering his signature on every thing he touches, through each solo album and EP, collaborations, or production work for the likes of Azealia Banks, Jamie Liddell, Jesse Boykins III and others, Machinedrum is now widely recognized as a producer's producer, a pioneer of many styles, and a master of his craft.

North Carolina-born artist Travis Stewart known as Machinedrum has produced and composed over a dozen albums under various aliases since his first independent release in 1999. Covering an astonishing variety of styles with ease, through solo Machinedrum work and with collaborative projects Sepalcure, JETS, Dream Continuum, or other mutations, Stewart has established himself as electronic music's true Renaissance man.

His debut as Machinedrum Now You Know, was released in 2001 on pioneering Miami-based Merck Records and gained worldwide attention and praise from musicians, fans and critics. Having a strong background in both acoustic and electronic instrumentation, he was quickly able to navigate those various elements on his early releases from field recording and vintage synth laden Urban Biology to his seminal production and mixing of This Charming Mixtape with MC Theophilus London and his critically acclaimed 2009 album Want To 1 2?
2010's Many Faces EP ushered the next phase of Machinedrum's career and a fruitful relationship with Glasgow-based label LuckyMe. Sepalcure, a duo launched with Praveen Sharma shortly after, became one of the most intriguing names in the bass music scene and a series of releases on bubbling imprint Hotflush has given the duo NYC ambassadorship of this UK-based genre.

Relocating to Berlin for a few years, Machinedrum maintained a steady flow of releases including the Alarmaa and SXLND EPs with LuckyMe and the critically-acclaimed Room(s) LP on Planet Mu Records, a fresh new exploration of juke, jungle, and drum&bass that garnered high praise across the music world.

The dance floor blitzkrieg JETS, his latest project with longtime collaborator Jimmy Edgar has kept him ahead of the curve once again, serving as yet another showcase for his musical evolution.

His biggest and boldest release came last year in the form of the full-length LP Vapor City on famed label Ninja Tune, a conceptual universe which included an interactive website, digital citizenship program for fans, and an art exhibit in NYC that launched with the album. With subsequent EPs, exclusive remixes from a series of heavyweights, and a critically-acclaimed world tour, Vapor City carried on his rich exploration of multimedia arts and music.

Delivering his signature on every thing he touches, through each solo album and EP, collaborations, or production work for the likes of Azealia Banks, Jamie Liddell, Jesse Boykins III and others, Machinedrum is now widely recognized as a producer's producer, a pioneer of many styles, and a master of his craft.

We were going to tell everyone how excited we were to have signed Hot Sugar's forthcoming EP this week, but it seems he's as prolific a video maker as he is a musician, and he's done it for us.

Needless to say, we remain very excited. Hot Sugar makes thrilling, addictive electronic music out of sounds he generates from the world around him. That means there's some very weird, unusual and downright dangerous source material, but more on that later. For now, listen to the first track from the forthcoming The Roots album he produced and watch him make a song from scratch, with his neighbours. Welcome aboard.

We were going to tell everyone how excited we were to have signed Hot Sugar's forthcoming EP this week, but it seems he's as prolific a video maker as he is a musician, and he's done it for us.

Needless to say, we remain very excited. Hot Sugar makes thrilling, addictive electronic music out of sounds he generates from the world around him. That means there's some very weird, unusual and downright dangerous source material, but more on that later. For now, listen to the first track from the forthcoming The Roots album he produced and watch him make a song from scratch, with his neighbours. Welcome aboard.

Drew Lustman aka FaltyDL was born and grew up in New Haven, Connecticut. These days he lives in Brooklyn, New York. Releasing music for Planet Mu, Ramp, Rush Hour, 50 Weapons, Hemlock, Swamp81, his own Blueberry Records imprint and, of course, Ninja Tune, he has recorded three albums (Love Is A Liability, You Stand Uncertain and Hardcourage) and will share his fourth LP In The Wild on 11th August 2014. He has also toured with James Blake; opened for Radiohead; and remixed for the likes of Seun Kuti, Photek, The xx and Disclosure.

Drew Lustman aka FaltyDL was born and grew up in New Haven, Connecticut. These days he lives in Brooklyn, New York. Releasing music for Planet Mu, Ramp, Rush Hour, 50 Weapons, Hemlock, Swamp81, his own Blueberry Records imprint and, of course, Ninja Tune, he has recorded three albums (Love Is A Liability, You Stand Uncertain and Hardcourage) and will share his fourth LP In The Wild on 11th August 2014. He has also toured with James Blake; opened for Radiohead; and remixed for the likes of Seun Kuti, Photek, The xx and Disclosure.

Manchester born, London based 24 year old producer/dj/composer Sam Shepherd aka Floating Points has quickly become one of the most respected and sought-after musicians in modern music. Debuting in February 2009 with the limited 7 inch ‘For You/Radiality’ (Eglo records) he has gone on to establish himself as one the forerunners of today’s new dance music movement, earning the respect of his peers and contemporaries such as Theo Parrish, Kyle Hall, Benji B, Ramadanman, Four Tet, Kode 9 and Mary Anne Hobbs. He's released music predominantly on Eglo records (which he runs alongside Rinse FM’s Alexander Nut), as well as Planet Mu, R2, Ninja Tune and notching up remixes and features for the likes of Domino, Ubiquity, XL, Fabric and Rinse.

The name Floating Points holds just much weight within the DJ world as its does in production, song writing and arrangement. In a short space of time Shepherd has won over crowds around the world with his strictly vinyl club sessions, spanning, house, techno, soul and disco, steadily climbing the ranks of the globes most impressive DJ’s, fuelling an indulgent record habit that regularly leads him on trips to both Chicago and Detroit.

Outside of his studio based productions and crate-breaking DJ sets Shepherd makes use of his classical music training, writing, composing and arranging for the Floating Points Ensemble. The 16 piece group, led by Shepherd, recently won the ‘Best Maida Vale Session’ gong at Gilles Peterson’s ‘Worldwide Awards’. With big plans for 2011 the future is looking bright for Floating Points. When not writing, recording or playing music Sam Shepherd can be found in the laboratories of UCL, where is currently studying a PHD in 'The Neuroscience Of Pain'.

Manchester born, London based 24 year old producer/dj/composer Sam Shepherd aka Floating Points has quickly become one of the most respected and sought-after musicians in modern music. Debuting in February 2009 with the limited 7 inch ‘For You/Radiality’ (Eglo records) he has gone on to establish himself as one the forerunners of today’s new dance music movement, earning the respect of his peers and contemporaries such as Theo Parrish, Kyle Hall, Benji B, Ramadanman, Four Tet, Kode 9 and Mary Anne Hobbs. He's released music predominantly on Eglo records (which he runs alongside Rinse FM’s Alexander Nut), as well as Planet Mu, R2, Ninja Tune and notching up remixes and features for the likes of Domino, Ubiquity, XL, Fabric and Rinse.

The name Floating Points holds just much weight within the DJ world as its does in production, song writing and arrangement. In a short space of time Shepherd has won over crowds around the world with his strictly vinyl club sessions, spanning, house, techno, soul and disco, steadily climbing the ranks of the globes most impressive DJ’s, fuelling an indulgent record habit that regularly leads him on trips to both Chicago and Detroit.

Outside of his studio based productions and crate-breaking DJ sets Shepherd makes use of his classical music training, writing, composing and arranging for the Floating Points Ensemble. The 16 piece group, led by Shepherd, recently won the ‘Best Maida Vale Session’ gong at Gilles Peterson’s ‘Worldwide Awards’. With big plans for 2011 the future is looking bright for Floating Points. When not writing, recording or playing music Sam Shepherd can be found in the laboratories of UCL, where is currently studying a PHD in 'The Neuroscience Of Pain'.

Born and raised in the South Bay area of Los Angeles, TOKiMONSTA
(Jennifer Lee) was an unfocused pupil of classical piano. However, she
has come to use this background to create vast textural soundscapes
through utilizing live instruments, percussion, digital manipulation,
and dusty noise. Through her musical creations, she is able to fuse
vintage sounds with progressive styles into something unique.

Her music has been recognized and praised by the very best in
avant-garde and mainstream media.TOKiMONSTA has been featured on various
large scale radio programs such as: BBC Radio1, NPR, BBC World Service, J
Wave (JP), Studio Brussels (BE), Radio Nova (FR), KCRW (USA) to name a
few. Subsequently, she has been featured in DJ Mag, Pitchfork, XLR8R,
URB, Paper, LA Times, SPIN, and is listed as the #1 female DJ in Los
Angeles by LA Weekly.

Not only has she caught ears of many as a different dimension of Los
Angeles-based music, TOKiMONSTA is notably the first female to join
crew/label Brainfeeder, headed by Flying Lotus— celebrated as the most
exciting LA music label by LA Weekly. In addition, she is also a 2010
Red Bull Music Academy alumni, allowing her to join the ranks of other
elite taste makers. Her live performance is engaging as well as
intricate—using a laptop, other pieces of instrumentation and multimedia
to orchestrate a truly interactive experience. She is a fearless and
energetic performer who tours regularly around the world from LA to NY,
London to Tel Aviv, Singapore to Tokyo.

Born and raised in the South Bay area of Los Angeles, TOKiMONSTA
(Jennifer Lee) was an unfocused pupil of classical piano. However, she
has come to use this background to create vast textural soundscapes
through utilizing live instruments, percussion, digital manipulation,
and dusty noise. Through her musical creations, she is able to fuse
vintage sounds with progressive styles into something unique.

Her music has been recognized and praised by the very best in
avant-garde and mainstream media.TOKiMONSTA has been featured on various
large scale radio programs such as: BBC Radio1, NPR, BBC World Service, J
Wave (JP), Studio Brussels (BE), Radio Nova (FR), KCRW (USA) to name a
few. Subsequently, she has been featured in DJ Mag, Pitchfork, XLR8R,
URB, Paper, LA Times, SPIN, and is listed as the #1 female DJ in Los
Angeles by LA Weekly.

Not only has she caught ears of many as a different dimension of Los
Angeles-based music, TOKiMONSTA is notably the first female to join
crew/label Brainfeeder, headed by Flying Lotus— celebrated as the most
exciting LA music label by LA Weekly. In addition, she is also a 2010
Red Bull Music Academy alumni, allowing her to join the ranks of other
elite taste makers. Her live performance is engaging as well as
intricate—using a laptop, other pieces of instrumentation and multimedia
to orchestrate a truly interactive experience. She is a fearless and
energetic performer who tours regularly around the world from LA to NY,
London to Tel Aviv, Singapore to Tokyo.

Starkey continues Ninja Tune's fine run of EP's with Open The Pod Bay Doors, the kind of transcendental, melodic and immaculately produced music that will see Starkey fit in nicely within the label's roster. The EP is a good example of Starkey's (aka PJ Geissinger from Philadelphia) multifaceted and genre-crossing talents as a producer that have been gaining much acclaim ever since his 2005 debut. Starkey's original grime and bass leaning productions can be heard throughout (his own Seclusiasis label is at forefront of Street Bass in the USA), especially on "'Rayguns" and "Blood Roses", but it's his compositional talents and more delicate blemishes seeping into his beats which are really starting to make Starkey stand out. Lead track "Open The Pod Bay Doors" is an epic statement of intent that builds in the most beguiling of ways, at once melodic, futuristic and tough.

Starkey comes with much support. He has been heralded in Pitchfork, FACT, The Wire, DJ Mag, Radio 1 and chosen by Mistajam on 1Xtra as one of the first DJ's for his new Daily Dose of Dubstep residency. He has worked with Tinie Tempah, Trim, Virus Syndicate, Kozzie whilst co-writing/producing with the likes of Guy Sigsworth and Aaron Levinson. This EP will see Starkey build on the huge success of his Space Traitor EPs by pushing experimentalism in bass culture while maintaining a rich melodic and harmonic language. Don't be surprised to see Starkey producing for some of music's biggest names in the not too distant future.

Starkey continues Ninja Tune's fine run of EP's with Open The Pod Bay Doors, the kind of transcendental, melodic and immaculately produced music that will see Starkey fit in nicely within the label's roster. The EP is a good example of Starkey's (aka PJ Geissinger from Philadelphia) multifaceted and genre-crossing talents as a producer that have been gaining much acclaim ever since his 2005 debut. Starkey's original grime and bass leaning productions can be heard throughout (his own Seclusiasis label is at forefront of Street Bass in the USA), especially on "'Rayguns" and "Blood Roses", but it's his compositional talents and more delicate blemishes seeping into his beats which are really starting to make Starkey stand out. Lead track "Open The Pod Bay Doors" is an epic statement of intent that builds in the most beguiling of ways, at once melodic, futuristic and tough.

Starkey comes with much support. He has been heralded in Pitchfork, FACT, The Wire, DJ Mag, Radio 1 and chosen by Mistajam on 1Xtra as one of the first DJ's for his new Daily Dose of Dubstep residency. He has worked with Tinie Tempah, Trim, Virus Syndicate, Kozzie whilst co-writing/producing with the likes of Guy Sigsworth and Aaron Levinson. This EP will see Starkey build on the huge success of his Space Traitor EPs by pushing experimentalism in bass culture while maintaining a rich melodic and harmonic language. Don't be surprised to see Starkey producing for some of music's biggest names in the not too distant future.